Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Family Values to Professional Purpose: Dina Rosenbaum's Leadership in Vision Services | Healthcare Series

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Family Values to Professional Purpose: Dina Rosenbaum's Leadership in Vision Services | Healthcare Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi, and today's guest is Dina
0:30
Rosenbaum, Chief Program Officer of Carroll Center for the Blind,
0:34
a nonprofit agency helping individuals who are blind or
0:38
visually impaired gain the skills they need to be
0:41
confident, active, independent individuals.
0:44
They proudly serve all ages and all stages of vision loss.
0:49
Established in 1936, the Carroll Center has pioneered innovative
0:53
methods for blind persons to gain independence in their
0:55
homes, in class settings, and in their workplaces.
0:59
New and evolving technologies combined with time tested
1:02
adaptive methods, individualized instruction, and personalized
1:07
therapies developed by the Carroll Center staff have
1:09
provided thousands of blind and vision impaired persons with
1:13
diverse opportunities for success and independent living.
1:17
Dina has been with Carroll for over 40 years and we will hear
1:21
about how her background and special Ed first letter to the
1:24
Carroll Center and what has kept her there for so long.
1:27
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AD back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
1:58
Chief Program Officer of Carroll Center for the Blind, Dina
2:02
Rosenbaum. I appreciate you making the time
2:03
to Share your story today. Thank you so much for having me
2:07
today, Anthony. It's a pleasure.
2:08
So Dina. Tell us how you found your way
2:10
from working in special education to working at the
2:14
Carroll Center for the Blind. So it it wasn't exactly the path
2:20
that I had chosen. I loved working with children.
2:25
I had studied special education at Boston University and I was
2:28
teaching at a small school with autistic children.
2:32
I had a small classroom and it was just the that we were on the
2:37
cusp of just the introduction of Apple 2E computers and
2:41
personalized computers. And this professor from MIT came
2:46
to our school and said I'm doing research on using computers with
2:50
autistic children. And she wound up picking my
2:52
classroom to use our our my students as part of her
2:57
research. So I worked with her on this
2:59
project that I really the only thing I remember is the computer
3:03
screen had what we called it was like called the turtle program
3:06
and had like a little triangle. And the kids had to use the up
3:09
and down arrow key to move the triangle around on the screen.
3:14
But that was very progressive at that time, if you could think
3:18
compared today. But I was fascinated by what she
3:22
was doing. And so I spent a lot of time
3:24
with her on her research, etcetera.
3:27
And she really said to me, I, you know, you should go pursue
3:31
this. And I'm like, how do I do that?
3:34
And it just coincidentally that Leslie University had just
3:37
launched this new master's program in education technology.
3:43
And so I enrolled, I left my teaching position.
3:46
It was a like a one year, 12 month position.
3:50
A lot of the participants were teachers in public schools that
3:53
were looking to get this credential to create computer
3:56
labs in their school. And I was like 1 of maybe two of
4:00
us who had a background in special education.
4:01
And every time I would bring it up to the professors, they're
4:04
like, you're it, you're the expertise you need to tell us
4:08
how to use this stuff. And along with the Apple two, EA
4:13
company had launched a speech synthesizer called the Echo,
4:16
which was a a card that went in the Apple 2E.
4:20
It was a great program. I learned a lot.
4:22
And now I was figuring out, OK, what do I do next?
4:24
And most of my colleagues were going back to their school
4:28
systems in launching these computer programs, teaching kids
4:31
how to use computers. And I had a girlfriend who got a
4:36
a part time position at the Museum of Science in Boston,
4:39
which had just launched their computer program as part of the
4:43
museum. And a a flyer came in one day
4:46
that the Carroll Center for the Blind was looking for director
4:48
of their computer training program.
4:50
So my girlfriend called me and said I think you should apply
4:52
and go with the Carroll Center. I know nothing about blindness.
4:55
She said you should apply. So you have a background in
4:58
special education. I said I learned nothing about
4:59
vision loss. I learned how to sign and that
5:01
was about it. So I did, and the president at
5:07
the time, Rachel Rosenbaum, no relationship, I was not a
5:11
Rosenbaum at that time, interviewed me and offered me
5:14
the position. They had just launched a
5:16
three-year federally funded program to create a training
5:20
program to teach blind people how to use computers with speech
5:24
programs in large print programs.
5:26
And this is back in the 80s. That was in the early 80s.
5:30
Go ahead. I won't date myself too much,
5:34
but you know what's interesting? So I, I was kind of launched in
5:39
the then to the field of blindness and of course have
5:42
learned a lot in my, of course now 40 going on over 40 years at
5:47
the agency. So I started as director of
5:50
computer training and after about 15 years, the Carroll
5:55
Center had created a a new marketing and outreach program.
5:58
And I really enjoyed going to conferences and talking to
6:00
people and educating people about the Carroll Center and
6:02
blindness and went to a lot of events.
6:04
And so they had created this new role.
6:07
And I work closely with the admissions director, who's a a
6:10
great mentor. And then about 10 years ago now,
6:15
the, there was some management changes within the agency and
6:18
they created a chief program officer.
6:20
So I oversee all the programs and services that we deliver to
6:24
individuals who are blind. So I have a a team of managers
6:27
who run programs and then they have staff below them.
6:32
But I really have to credit that encounter with Rachel Rosenbaum.
6:39
So here I am a 20 something, got this master's degree, couple
6:44
years of teaching behind me. And I come in and I think I, she
6:49
offered me the job and I walked away and said I'll be here, you
6:53
know, six months. She said she'll be here a year.
6:56
Here I am 40 years later. But what's when I think about my
7:05
success at the Carroll Center was one the opportunities I were
7:10
afforded in terms of different jobs.
7:12
But also, you know, we can talk about the big balance of of work
7:18
and family life, etcetera, especially when you work in a
7:20
non profit, which I think was a a big piece of me still being
7:24
here 40 years later. But I learned a lot from Rachel
7:29
about the qualities you look for in a person.
7:35
And I said to her what, like what made you hire me 'cause you
7:40
know, I said, I, I didn't know anything about blindness,
7:43
etcetera. And she said when I spoke to
7:45
you, you were like me and I go, what do you mean, nothing like
7:51
you? She said you grew up in a family
7:55
business. I knew you had good work ethic.
8:00
I knew you had compassion. We can we can talk about a
8:04
little of my family history. So I knew you had the soft
8:10
skills in, in terms of being successful as a manager.
8:15
I could teach you everything else.
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And yes, you were young and didn't have a lot of experience
8:19
managing people, but I could help you develop those skills.
8:23
So that and you know, I didn't ask her back then, but years
8:27
later when I asked her that what you know, why, why did you what,
8:32
what did you see in me that So that was really inspiring to me
8:36
to hear her share that that I kept with me to to use inspiring
8:40
others. That's a great story.
8:42
So she was kind of like a mentor to you, kind of helping to bring
8:45
you up. Yeah.
8:47
And is that something now that is important to you to try to
8:52
pass on to others? Oh, I extremely important.
8:56
And especially being a woman in leadership, I think it's very
9:00
critical that I, I mean, I have younger women who are underneath
9:05
me who I know hopefully someday will take my seat at some point
9:09
in the future. But definitely supporting them
9:12
in their pursuit of leadership in sort of knowledge of the
9:20
field and what we do in, in sort of the role that we play in
9:24
trying to really, I mean, we change people's lives daily.
9:28
But the work that I might not be doing it directly, but that our
9:32
team does and what we're doing. So I've definitely learned to
9:37
recognize the soft skills that people need to be successful as
9:42
leaders. And not, not everybody wants to
9:46
be a leader. And I think that's important for
9:49
leaders to recognize that we have teachers who are great who
9:52
just want to be teachers and they don't want management
9:56
responsibility, but we need to support them in making sure
10:01
they're supported in what they do and they feel happy and
10:03
they're, they're constantly satisfied in the work they're
10:07
due. But also recognize others,
10:10
whether they're male or female or whoever they identify as to
10:14
provide them with opportunities for growth and skill should they
10:18
choose. And we see that they have the
10:21
skills to do it. I think it's critical to
10:23
identify the, you know, empathy people have and organization and
10:28
detail. But initiative to me is, is
10:30
critical. When you see people taking
10:32
initiative and saying yes and getting things done, it's like
10:35
this person has capacity. Do you know, were there
10:39
particular challenges for you being a woman in a leadership
10:43
position in a non profit? I think that one of my biggest
10:47
challenges with being young, so I was like maybe mid 20s.
10:53
And so I come into this position and I have back then called a
10:58
secretary who's probably could have been my mother.
11:02
So that was a little bit of a challenge kind of sort of sort
11:07
of kind of figuring out that kind of relationship of here,
11:13
like, you know, and that person who I, I don't, they hadn't
11:16
really been there that long, but just like, Oh my God, they hired
11:19
somebody half my age. I could do her job kind of, I'm
11:22
sure that was the first thing in their head.
11:24
So I learned how to just like be supportive and empathetic to
11:28
people and, and where they are in their role and in their life
11:31
and how to navigate that and seek out, not come in assuming
11:35
you know everything a learn skill, but coming in and to
11:39
really open it up to learn from others and, and kind of include
11:42
people as a team to get things done.
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And so I think that was critical that my first secretary didn't
11:49
last long, but the others who were also in that age category
11:52
did 'cause I think I finally started to learn.
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So I think Rachel, you know, kind of mentoring that way and
12:00
just having that experience. And I again, it when you work
12:03
with great people, it works. It just works when you work with
12:06
people who are nice and empathetic and take initiative
12:10
and say yes to things and are happy and you want to keep them
12:13
that way. The relationship, The teamwork.
12:15
Works. So Dina, you've been there for
12:20
40 years, but the Center for the Blind has been there certainly
12:26
much longer, almost 90 years I believe.
12:29
Talk a little bit about the evolution of the services
12:34
offered there at Carroll and kind of the overall role that
12:37
Carol has played in the blind community.
12:40
Sure. So our initial organization
12:46
launch was back in the 1930s as part of the Catholic
12:51
organization. It was called the Catholic Guild
12:53
for the Blind. It was a service organization
12:56
because back then the services of a, if you became blind or
13:00
were blind, it was very much people were helping you,
13:04
providing you with readers, driving you places, giving you
13:07
things, even giving them money to live, et cetera.
13:10
And it wasn't really until some of the until after World War 2
13:16
in some federal laws that changed in terms of the rehab
13:21
acts and vocational rehab programming in the federal
13:24
government that enabled agencies to really launch more services
13:31
for people who are blind with a higher expectation.
13:34
So one of the things that happened is veterans coming back
13:36
from World War Two who were blinded were part of a pilot
13:41
program to provide them with skills training with the goal of
13:44
can they go back to work? We think they can go back to
13:46
work. So that mindset of if you're
13:49
blind, you could go back to work kind of started things then with
13:52
the with the blinded veterans who were coming back.
13:56
Father Thomas Carroll was a Boston gentleman who grew up in
14:00
a big Catholic family north of Boston, fishing family, you
14:05
know, a boy among, you know, eight children that were all
14:09
girls, you know, So 7 girls in him, I think it was.
14:14
And he went to seminary school and the seminary school said,
14:18
OK, this is your, you graduated, this is your assignment.
14:21
We're sending you to work at the Catholic Guild for the Blind.
14:24
Wasn't happy. He wanted to parish to go work
14:26
at. But it it certainly became an
14:29
unbelievable match to who he was as well.
14:34
So he became involved in the program with the blinded
14:37
veterans and in this program happened to be happening in
14:40
Connecticut. And he would drive down to
14:41
Connecticut and work with them and learn about the methods that
14:45
they were trying with this blinded veterans to give them
14:47
the skills to get make them more independent, travel with the
14:50
cane, learn Braille, learn skills to go back to work or or
14:54
learn a trade. But he was providing them more
14:57
with counseling and support, but also paying attention to what
15:00
was going on. And he became a great friend of
15:03
the blinded Veterans and help them form their own
15:07
organization. He presented at their
15:09
convention. There's still a Father Carol
15:12
luncheoned in his memory at the Blind Veterans Association
15:16
convention every year where he's memorialized and and talked
15:21
about. So he took all this, this
15:25
opportunity and skills that he learned and coming back to now,
15:30
Newton, MA, where the Guild was now located and said to the then
15:35
director, I think we should create a program like this for
15:38
blinded civilians. There's no reason why they have
15:41
to sit at home and do nothing. And the the property was part of
15:47
a big estate that had like a big house and a carriage house for
15:50
horses. So the director's like, well,
15:53
you can take the barn and create a program in the barn.
15:56
Very, very Catholic, go back to the barn, launch new things.
16:02
Very symbolic for him. So he did, He was very
16:06
resourceful. He went to places and found cots
16:10
and made the upstairs a dormitory, in the downstairs a
16:12
training facility. And basically through his
16:16
connections, through the blinded VA found instructors convinced
16:20
them to come to Boston to teach when knocking on doors to houses
16:25
where he knew women weren't working and asked them to come
16:28
volunteer and teach cooking, etcetera.
16:31
And it was in 1956 that he launched the first independent
16:34
living program for persons who were blind.
16:38
And that was that's really the birth of of where the Carroll
16:41
Center stems from, because we still teach independent living
16:45
based on a lot of the work him and his colleagues did in
16:47
philosophies and curriculum that they created.
16:50
Certainly updated. You know, we're teaching
16:52
technology, we're teaching how to use cell phones, we're
16:55
teaching counter, you know, the latest appliances with our
16:59
individuals. But the the the basis of the
17:03
premise that he put together in terms of what people needed to
17:06
learn, not just skills, but sort of the non kind of skill set,
17:11
like be adjusting to your vision loss.
17:13
And what does that mean? And how does that affect your
17:16
role in the family? And how do you function in a
17:19
group of people that you can't see?
17:21
And how do you use your other senses to help you when you
17:24
navigate in the outside world? All those kind of techniques are
17:28
still part of the curriculum that we run.
17:31
The other interesting thing about Father Carol is he was
17:34
very active in civil rights. He he marched with Doctor Martin
17:39
Luther King at in Selma. There's actually a video of him.
17:42
He happened to had just had a knee surgery.
17:46
So when you see the group kneeling, he's the only one not
17:49
kneeling because he couldn't kneel.
17:52
So there is a video of that on our website.
17:54
He gave a lot of speeches about equality for all persons, not
17:59
just persons who were blind or disabled.
18:01
He spent a lot of time in Washington getting funding for
18:06
programs, for professional programs.
18:09
So he really helped launch the 1st professional pair, what we
18:13
call paraprofessional program for individuals to become
18:17
instructors to teach orientation and mobility, which is travel,
18:20
teaching blind people how to travel with a cane.
18:23
And he was very connected, very smart, very cunning.
18:29
There's a couple of stories about him, how he was trying to
18:33
convince Boston College to take on this program and had been
18:38
going to Washington to try to get funding.
18:40
And Boston College wasn't sure that they wanted to do.
18:42
And they kept putting them off and putting them off.
18:44
And finally, he said there's a very prominent College in Boston
18:50
that is very interested and I need your decision by Friday.
18:54
And I have your funding. And if you don't want it, IKEA,
18:58
Harvard wants it. He had never talked to anybody
19:01
at Harvard. So Boston College took the bait.
19:04
They said, OK, we'll, we'll take the program.
19:06
So he's just that kind of personality that really launched
19:11
things. And he gave a lot of lectures.
19:15
He wrote a book about blindness, what it is, what it does, how to
19:17
live with it. It's been translated in like 20
19:20
languages. It's used.
19:21
It's still used at a lot of universities, even if it's very
19:24
dated. Unfortunately, he died in 1971
19:29
unexpectedly. And the Carol, the Carol, the
19:34
Guild for the Blind, even before he died, was already in the
19:37
process of becoming an independent nonprofit.
19:39
So after he died, it it separated with the church,
19:42
became an independent nonprofit with the board, and they renamed
19:46
it in his memory, the Carroll Center for the Blind.
19:48
But that's how we kind of got to where we are today.
19:53
It was, it had a few directors. Rachel Rosenbaum came in a few
19:58
years after Father Carol died and took over the agency and
20:01
really launched it further on its path to being a National
20:07
Center or international center in a way, and really pulled in
20:12
the finances, expanded programs so that we had a a low vision
20:17
department. We had a research department at
20:19
one time. We had an international program.
20:22
We, she added educational services to the agency, got
20:26
funding to launch a technology program for where she hired me
20:30
to run at the onset and then she retired and we've had some great
20:38
presidents, including Greg Donnelly, who's our, our current
20:40
president. So that's sort of our.
20:44
That's helpful. Path of.
20:45
History. That's helpful to hear that
20:46
history. I'm looking at your website
20:49
here, which by the way, for folks listening is carroll.org,
20:52
CARROL, l.org, and I see a lot of different services here.
20:59
Before I ask you to kind of, you know, bullet point what they
21:02
are, I'm going to ask what may sound like a very basic
21:05
question, but is there a formal definition for blind?
21:11
Is there some kind of a threshold?
21:13
Is it a sliding scale? How's that work?
21:16
So there is, so it's there is what we called a definition of
21:21
legal blindness, which very simply is that your corrected
21:27
vision is 2200 or worse. There are also some other field
21:33
restrictions and other things that doctors can use.
21:36
But you know you're wearing glasses.
21:38
So if you told me your vision was 20 / 300 or 20 / 250 or some
21:43
number because it's not an exact 1, you read an eye chart and you
21:49
and you couldn't wear glasses, they didn't help, then you could
21:52
be considered legally blind even though you probably still have
21:55
some usable vision. You could probably see quite a
21:59
bit. But that's the number that the
22:02
states use to declare somebody legal blind or the doctors used
22:06
to declare you legally blind that states require in order for
22:11
you to have or get a drivers license.
22:15
So if you meet that eligibility in most states, they are
22:20
required by state law to report you to the agency for the blind,
22:26
which in turn reports your name to the Department of Motor
22:30
Vehicles and they pull your license.
22:33
So, but there's a lot of, there's a lot of Gray area in
22:37
that because sometimes people are in treatment for their
22:40
vision loss. So they might not get declared
22:43
legally blind right away 'cause the doctor might need working on
22:46
treatments or injections or other methods that could restore
22:50
some of your vision. And I always say blindness
22:56
doesn't discriminate. It affects people of all ages,
22:59
all economic status, etcetera. In my 40 years, I still am
23:05
surprised that there, you know, every month I hear about some
23:09
condition that I never heard of before.
23:11
So certainly it's a very small feel.
23:14
There's only about like 1.1 point .2 people in the United
23:20
States who are legally blind and most of those people are over
23:26
the age of 60. So it's, it's small still, but
23:30
there's certainly much larger, like 4 million people who are
23:33
what we call visually impaired, which means your vision is 20 /
23:38
70 or worse. So sort of between 20 / 70 and
23:41
20 / 200. And those people typically can
23:45
still drive. They might, you know, be able to
23:49
use magnifiers, They might need more lighting, but their vision
23:53
can't be corrected to 2020. So they need some, you know,
23:57
extra tools maybe to help them and they may struggle, you know,
24:00
using their phone or using their computer or reading their mail.
24:03
But it's it just depends on the individual.
24:07
Everybody's, it's so unique, you know, two people can come and
24:10
say have the exact same condition and have a different
24:14
experience in terms of how their vision is affecting them.
24:18
Share a personal story of mine that had had a happy sort of
24:22
funny ending, but it it'll be a good lead into my next question.
24:26
This was just a week or two ago. I'm getting ready for a meeting
24:30
and my vision starts going blurry and I've got to drop my
24:35
kids off at school. And as I'm driving them to
24:36
school, it's it's getting worse and I'm what's, what's going on?
24:40
And I, I get to school, I drop them off.
24:43
I look in the rear of your mirror and my, my pupils are
24:45
huge. They're giant.
24:46
And I'm like, okay, I don't know what's happening.
24:49
I had a series of meetings that morning.
24:51
I'm having trouble functioning because I can't focus on the
24:54
screen. I can't, you know, focus on the
24:56
projector. I'm having trouble finding the,
24:58
you know, the mouse. And I'm like, you know, in
25:00
between meetings, I'm calling my eye doctor.
25:02
I'm like, I got to get in today. I don't, I don't know what's
25:04
happening. And and I'm trying to hold it
25:06
together during these meetings, but inside I'm a mess because
25:08
like I'm already making plans for like, what does my life look
25:10
like? If all this, you know, that I've
25:13
taken for granted for 50 years, all that you know, this goes
25:16
away. The the funny sort of happy
25:19
ending to my story was that I had mistakenly put my kids
25:23
prescription eye drops in my eyes instead of my just typical
25:28
re wedding. And it's a diluted version of
25:32
what causes your eyes to dilate at the the eye doctors.
25:35
So with, you know, by the end of the day, my my vision was back
25:38
to normal. But having gone through like
25:40
this very brief moment in time where I thought, I don't know
25:43
what's happening. I'm, I'm terrified of what the
25:45
outcome is. It made me realize that I have
25:49
to assume a great deal of the work that is being done at
25:53
Carroll has to do with sort of the emotional acceptance and,
25:58
and the the mental health aspect of coming to terms with this new
26:04
reality for folks, Am I right? You're absolutely right.
26:09
I mean, and that's really where was groundbreaking in what
26:13
bother Carol talked about in his book is all the losses that come
26:18
with your loss of vision because you're sitting there going Oh my
26:21
God, how am I going to drive home?
26:22
Oh my God, how am I going to get through this meeting?
26:24
Oh my God, how am I going to pick up my kids?
26:26
You know, so it's effects all so many parts of your life that you
26:31
just puts you in crisis mode. And now you say now what?
26:36
And the, you know, one of the we talk about things like your role
26:42
in your family. You know, I, you know, I, I was
26:47
the mother, I took care of the kids.
26:49
I prepared the meals, I planned all our activities.
26:53
I picked up the drove the kids and picked them up from school.
26:56
Now you can't do that. So how do you you know you can
27:01
sit with your partner and hopefully if you have a partner,
27:04
you have that support to kind of change your role and you kind of
27:08
maybe switch responsibilities or figure out a way to do that.
27:12
But it's also, you know, it's emotionally like effective that
27:17
you don't have that ability to do that.
27:19
You don't have that independence.
27:20
And just to acknowledge and accept the change that you have
27:24
to make that change. It affects your relationships
27:27
with friends or colleagues that you know, you can't just, you
27:31
know, get in the car and go meet them for a walk or out to dinner
27:34
or go play bridge or tennis or whatever it was that you did as
27:38
part of your social life. And So what do you do now?
27:42
How do you keep those friends or you know, a critical component
27:46
of coming to the careless center is meeting other persons who are
27:49
blind because you need that group of individuals that you
27:53
can share and talk to about blindness related things that
27:56
you're not going to be able to share with your sighted friends
27:58
and family. You know, employment is a big
28:02
piece of what people do and people assume like they their
28:05
vision changes or they lose their vision, they can't work
28:09
anymore. And that might not be true.
28:11
So I think it's a first, you know, knee reaction to jerk
28:15
reaction to say, I can't see, I can't work.
28:18
Instead of saying, you know what, let's take a pause and
28:21
let's, let's get you more independent and get you skills
28:24
and get you emotionally ready and then figure out whether you
28:28
can go back to your job. And does that make sense?
28:31
And, and for some people, it's like, I don't want to go back to
28:34
that job. Maybe that's not really, you
28:36
know, we're your passion anymore.
28:39
So I think the adjustment is really figuring out what you,
28:43
you know, you're adjusting to this new world, but having a
28:46
play and how it gets formed and played out and not taking a back
28:51
seat to it. So I think a lot of what we do
28:53
is talk about empowering people, empowering people and self
28:57
advocacy. But in order to do that, they
29:00
have to learn and feel that they're empowered and they can
29:04
do things. And it's, it's risk taking.
29:06
It's I'm not a risk taker. And I, I applaud these people
29:10
who can come and take these risks because it's, it's going
29:14
out, it's going to places. You have a cane, you feel you're
29:17
a target, you're going to places a different way or new places.
29:22
But I feel that each step people take just makes them stronger
29:26
and they become more confident that they can do things.
29:30
So there's a a lot of, we talk about a lot of losses that
29:34
people have to go through. And we even when we have people
29:39
come to the Carroll Center for an intensive independent living
29:43
vision rehabilitation program, we acknowledge that they need to
29:47
be ready for it. So if you lost your vision
29:51
yesterday, you're not ready to come tomorrow for a program.
29:55
You have to 1. You have to explore all the
29:58
options for any medical treatment that that could take
30:01
months, sometimes years. You have to be in a place to
30:05
recognize that that maybe this won't be your vision for the
30:09
rest of your life. Maybe there will will be a cure
30:12
or treatment in your future, and we hope there is.
30:16
But you still have to get up today and function.
30:19
And that's what we're really here for.
30:20
And we try to communicate today. We're we're, we're not.
30:23
This is not necessarily the end of the road to say I'm never
30:26
going to see again. This is just get your life back
30:30
on track. Get yourself back in, in, in the
30:33
world of living and functioning. And so let's show you how to
30:37
pour yourself a cup of coffee, make yourself a meal, make your
30:40
children a meal, grocery shopping that might not be
30:43
getting in your car and going, but maybe it's ordering it and
30:46
having it delivered or, you know, having another family
30:48
member pick it up. But you certainly go online and
30:51
order it yourself, you know, so maybe you're not gonna make
30:55
Thanksgiving dinner the way you used to and you'll order the
30:58
food or you'll have other people bring it, but you certainly
31:01
could host it. So it's just finding ways to do
31:04
things differently. And a lot of the techniques that
31:07
we teach are actually very low tech.
31:10
I mean, our we just did a presentation and you know, our
31:13
top three low tech items for that most people can use whether
31:19
you have vision or not, are rubber bands, chopsticks and
31:23
trays. So rubber bands.
31:26
So if you want to easily identify something you like a
31:29
medicine in your medicine cabinet or a a shampoo or
31:33
conditioner in your shower, put a rubber band on it.
31:35
If you like wake up in the middle of the night, you need to
31:38
find that Advil or or Tylenol, put a rubber band on it and it's
31:43
right there in front of you. Like you don't have to keep
31:45
looking at all the labels, you know, for people even with
31:47
vision, but how easier it makes it.
31:49
Same thing in the shower, can't wear your glasses, can't see
31:52
that well, OK, I know the rubber band is on the conditioner or
31:55
the shampoo in trays. Doing everything over a tray
31:59
from putting a cutting board in a tray to counting or taking
32:03
your medicine over a tray because anything that falls,
32:07
falls on the tray and you're not on your hands and knees trying
32:09
to look for it on the floor. So it's just it's organization,
32:14
techniques, learning from our expertise.
32:16
But you're right, a lot of it is just emotional day-to-day
32:21
support and being in an environment where you're with
32:24
other people who are blind who are going through the same
32:26
thing. And one of the great things that
32:28
happens at the Carroll Center is we have rolling admissions.
32:31
So we have people who come in every two weeks.
32:35
So you could start on Monday and be here with people who are
32:38
starting with you on Monday to people who started a month ago
32:42
or people who've been here for three months and they now become
32:46
your mentors. Those people who've been here
32:47
for a while to say yes, when I first started, this is what I
32:50
went through. Yes.
32:51
Let me help you learn how to use that phone.
32:53
To me, the best training that happens at the Carroll Center
32:56
happens after 5:00 PM after the staff leave.
32:59
And it's really the training and support people get.
33:02
And when we talked in survey our alumni, they say the the
33:06
greatest thing they got out of the Carroll Center was being
33:10
with other people who are blind. Yeah, everybody needs a
33:12
community, and especially when you're transitioning to a new
33:17
life reality. You know, there's something you
33:19
said, Dina, that surprised me. Was that right?
33:23
You know, as I was sort of going through a few hours of like, Oh
33:25
no, what does this mean? Was like, right, I won't be able
33:29
to work. And you're like, well, that's
33:30
not necessarily always the case. So I have to imagine I have that
33:35
misconception. There's probably lots of other
33:37
misconceptions around blindness. What What are some of the more
33:40
common ones? So I pretty much tell people,
33:44
OK, so we you can't drive. So if your, if your job was
33:48
driving a truck, that's not something you can go back to or
33:51
if you were a pilot or something, that's going to be
33:54
pretty difficult. But certainly there's a lot of
33:59
people can go back to the work they were doing.
34:01
You may have to carve out some of your job because maybe there
34:04
are a few things you can't do anymore or just way too time
34:07
consuming or difficult to do. But I mean, I, I have worked
34:12
with people who were pharmacists who kept went back to their job.
34:16
I have a a woman who's a speech and language therapist in a
34:19
public school who works with autistic children and she's
34:22
totally blind and she went back to her job and a simple
34:28
technique is she she walks to the kids classroom.
34:32
She gives them a thing of bells. She walks with them to her
34:38
office. She's like shake those bells so
34:40
she knows they're with her. They get to the classroom.
34:43
She's adapted a lot of the materials.
34:45
She used to be tactile. She uses the computer.
34:48
So she's but her employer was very supportive of this
34:51
environment and wanted her back. I've, we've worked with the
34:55
doctors who, you know, necessarily they might not go in
34:58
and do surgery, but they were able to keep their practice for
35:01
a while or make modifications. So they continue to see patients
35:05
or do some of their work that they were doing.
35:09
You know, we, we have a wood shop at the Carroll Center where
35:13
we teach people how to use tools, saws, etcetera.
35:16
And I have a lot of gentlemen who worked or were females who
35:19
worked in construction or like, I can't do that again.
35:22
We're like, actually you can, but maybe you're not going to go
35:26
back to the construction site. But maybe I had a gentleman go
35:30
work at Home Depot and get a job because he certainly had all the
35:33
knowledge. So he's, you go into Home Depot
35:35
and he could tell you how to fix and anything or make anything.
35:39
So it's just kind of rethinking your job or thinking about what
35:43
you liked at your job or what you like to do because not
35:47
everybody, I mean, we have lots of people say, I don't want to
35:49
do what I did before. I want to do something else.
35:51
I worked in a bank. I was AVP at a bank.
35:53
I don't want to do that anymore, you know, so I want to give
35:56
back. I want to work with people.
35:57
So I had a gentleman who worked at a was AVPA bank, lost his
36:01
vision and he came to the Carroll Center.
36:04
We got an internship. He worked in the field of
36:06
disability and accessibility and he loved it, but he had, you
36:09
know, great customer service skills, great people skills,
36:12
great organization skills. So you just kind of like any of
36:15
us take what the skill set that you're good at and kind of re
36:19
imagine what that's like. But it's it is you do need
36:24
confidence that you can go back to work.
36:28
And for some people that might be starting off small by
36:30
volunteering somewhere, volunteering in your community
36:34
just to kind of get your sea legs to go back out there and
36:38
just have the confidence to be out in the public or be out in
36:41
an environment and do something. And so for some people, it just
36:45
it takes it takes time. So we've kind of touched on some
36:49
of the services that you guys offer and I'm sure we could
36:52
probably do an entire interview just on kind of talking through
36:56
what those services are, but maybe kind of give me the
36:58
Reader's Digest condensed version of what it is that you
37:02
guys are able to provide for folks.
37:04
Sure. So we talked a lot about our
37:06
what we call our independent living or vision rehab program
37:09
for adults, which is helping people who lose vision as adults
37:14
get the skills to go back to work.
37:16
And that that is a big signature program that happens at the
37:20
Carroll Center. We are a residential facility.
37:22
So we do get people who come from all over to attend the
37:25
program. We have similar programs for
37:29
youth teens in the summer who come in the summer to get
37:33
experiences away from home, to develop more independence, get
37:37
away from mom and dad who are doing everything from them to so
37:41
that they're getting up, getting dressed, preparing meals, going
37:45
out in the community, going to Dunkin' Donuts by themselves,
37:48
meeting other children, young adults who are blind, etcetera,
37:51
having recreation experiences. So we have some youth summer
37:56
programs. We have a a youth transition
37:59
program for students who are exiting out of high school but
38:03
are not ready to go to college or not sure if they're going to
38:06
go to college or just want to go to work to also just develop
38:09
more independent skills and confidence.
38:12
We also have an education team of teachers of the visually
38:16
impaired who go to public schools to work with children
38:19
who are mainstreamed, who are blind to ensure that they have
38:23
access to the curriculum, that they have their materials in
38:27
whatever format works for them. Teach them Braille if
38:30
appropriate, teach them how to use talking computers or
38:33
different devices or how to use their tablets.
38:37
So it's all around accessibility and and those teachers work
38:40
under contract by the public schools to serve those children.
38:45
We have what's called orientation mobility instructors
38:48
who teach safe cane travel and safe travel, who go to people's
38:51
homes to teach them to make sure they can navigate in and out of
38:55
their home, take a bus, walk down the street, work with
38:59
individuals at jobs that they can get to their job, travel in
39:04
their job, know where the bathroom is, know where the
39:06
cafeteria is or local food services.
39:09
Work with young adults at their colleges, students to Orient
39:13
them to their college campus. We're in Boston, hub of tons of
39:18
colleges. We work with students who come
39:19
from all over the country to go to school in Boston.
39:22
And if you're visually impaired and blind, you need that extra
39:25
support to learn. This is your dorm.
39:27
Let's go over what's in your dorm.
39:28
This is the building that your classes are in there or the five
39:31
buildings your classes are in. This is the cafeteria.
39:34
So our staff go out and teach orientation and mobility.
39:38
We have a history of really supporting recreation at the
39:41
Carroll Center. So we have a blind sailing
39:44
program with our local community boating program, and we run
39:48
programs for individuals who are blind to get experience and
39:52
learn how to sail. We historically had also had
39:58
competitive sailing programs where we had individual teams of
40:01
blind people who competed. In sailing around the world,
40:06
there was actually an international blind sailing
40:08
association that the Carroll Center was a founder of.
40:12
Fencing is a program that actually was created by brought
40:18
by Father Carroll because it was something they used with the
40:21
blinded veterans as a well, a way to help them Orient
40:26
themselves in space and learn more sensory skills in an
40:30
environment that would help with traveling with a cane and
40:33
mobility like being able to cross the street in a straight
40:37
line instead of veering off. And fencing seems to help with
40:40
some of those skills because when you fence and you take your
40:43
foil and you want to, you know, attack somebody across from you,
40:46
you got to make sure you know where that person is.
40:49
So if you you can use some non visual skills to develop that.
40:53
And that's something that we still include in our program
40:56
here. We also have a low vision clinic
40:59
because many, as we talked about, many people who are blind
41:02
are actually low vision or visually impaired.
41:05
So we have an outpatient program that works with people just to
41:08
help them find the right devices to use that can benefit them.
41:12
Magnifiers or video devices or, you know, binocular devices and,
41:17
and just educate people about how their vision loss is
41:21
affecting their ability to see and what they can do to improve
41:26
or use their existing vision. Sometimes it's just like you
41:29
need more lighting, you just need a better light to, to do
41:33
things visually and that will help you.
41:36
So we have professional staff who do that.
41:39
And lastly, we have a or not Lastly, we have a Carol store
41:43
that sells adapter products both in person or on our website.
41:49
And then of course we have our technology program.
41:51
I can't forget about that. That's where I started where
41:53
people can just come or get technology training.
41:57
And that's the kind of training that is like you come every
42:00
couple of years. So I got a computer I need to
42:03
use my speech program to use with Word or my e-mail or web
42:08
browsing, or I need to learn how to use Excel.
42:10
And now, you know, three to five years later, everything's
42:14
upgraded, new Microsoft Office is new.
42:17
You know, the Windows browser I'm using is a new, my speech is
42:20
new. I need to get an update of
42:22
skills. So we have a lot of people who
42:24
come for basic training to advance training.
42:28
We also run a lot of employment programs to help people get more
42:31
skills to go back to work. So we have an accessibility
42:34
training program for people to get more skills to work in
42:37
digital accessibility. It's a attractive field for
42:41
people who are blind because a lot of companies want blind
42:43
people to test their websites or test their PDFs or their
42:46
products, etcetera. So as a way for them to get
42:49
employed and of high interest. And we, we use a lot of, we look
42:54
at a lot of industries as well. Like right now we're looking at
42:57
the restaurant industry and, and not so much people say
43:01
restaurant industry. It's like, OK, we're not, we're
43:04
not talking about necessarily a blind person getting a job as a
43:07
waiter, but in a commissary preparing food or doing prep
43:11
work or working as in part of a college cafeteria.
43:14
I have individually or blind who work in elementary school
43:17
cafeterias or you know, or food halls, etcetera.
43:22
So there's lots of you have to think beyond the norm and what
43:25
individuals can do. And sometimes it's like carving
43:28
out jobs for individuals to do. Certainly, you know, a person
43:34
who's totally blind might not be able to do a cash register at
43:37
CVS, but can they stock shelves and open boxes and put pricing
43:41
on things? Absolutely.
43:43
So again, thinking about, you know, this different jobs that
43:47
are done by different people within a company or place and
43:51
and how a blind person could do those.
43:53
Dean, I want to ask a self-serving question, kind of
43:56
put you on the spot for a moment.
43:57
My grandmother who passed away several years ago suffered from
44:00
macular degeneration. And so the last years of her
44:04
life were really frustrating for her as she had, you know, pretty
44:07
close to no vision by the time she passed away.
44:10
And so that's, you know, there's a, a heredity component to that.
44:16
And so it's something I'm always sort of in the back of my mind,
44:19
like, is this something that's going to affect me?
44:21
I go to my eye doctor for an exam every year.
44:23
They're aware of it. They, you know, they check me
44:25
out. Is there anything else outside
44:27
of that? This might not be your area of
44:30
expertise, but anything else that I should be doing thinking
44:34
about looking into? Yeah, we try not to give medical
44:39
advice, but I mean, I think it's it's relative to, you know, when
44:43
you have a genetic predisposition for some type of
44:48
disease is keeping healthy in general.
44:50
So I think, you know, we, they know that sometimes, you know,
44:54
making sure you have proper nutrients like vitamin A or
44:58
vitamin C help, but there's no guarantee for anything.
45:04
I think the best thing you can do is making sure you're seeing
45:07
the eye care professional on a routine basis, like going to the
45:10
eye doctor every year and if they say come twice a you go
45:13
twice a year. So I think that's really the
45:15
critical part because there are definitely ways to halt the
45:20
progression of vision loss and macular degeneration or other
45:24
conditions. And a lot of the therapies that
45:27
the pharmaceutical companies are coming out with are not so much
45:30
to focus on, you know, reversing or curing eye diseases, because
45:36
that's really difficult to do in a short term, but really just
45:39
halting progression. And so there's a work, we work,
45:43
we do work with a lot of those companies to educate and, and
45:47
help with studies to really, you know, halt any progression of
45:51
loss. So I think that's the critical
45:53
is early detection and, you know, to, to do anything you can
45:58
to prevent the, the progression of the, the eye condition so it
46:04
doesn't get as bad as quickly. So that to me the critical thing
46:08
is getting eye care attention as you know, routinely as possible.
46:16
And you know, you mentioned your grandmother and I think seniors,
46:20
you know, we people as they age look at two things.
46:24
They think that are part of normal aging, hearing loss and
46:27
vision loss. Oh, I'm older.
46:30
Of course, my eyes are not as good, my hearing is not as good.
46:33
But if that's not really true, so if you really, when you
46:38
identify some change in your vision or where you start to
46:41
notice you're gravitating to the window to read your mail because
46:46
you need more lighting, these are all signs that you should be
46:49
getting some, you know, treatment or, or working with an
46:53
eye care professional. So to me that's that's the
46:56
critical part, enjoying. That well, good advice and
47:00
probably good advice for folks other than me to hear to get
47:03
your eyes checked on a regular basis, which is a box that I'm
47:06
checking so I'll just. Great.
47:09
And even I just want to state because we do work closely with
47:11
a lot of the optometry schools and clinics and they identify
47:16
that children, you know, are often screened in their schools,
47:20
but the follow up care is not, doesn't always happen because of
47:24
various reasons. So I think it's critical to just
47:27
families, so not just elderly people, but families as well to
47:31
make sure your kids are having their eyes check.
47:33
And if it's at school and there's any concerns at school
47:36
that you are taking them for, you know, a private
47:39
consultation, because I think that's critical as well.
47:43
It's, it's amazing to me that I've talked to and met so many
47:48
people over my career whose vision diagnosis didn't happen
47:53
till later in life, but who had eye issues as children that did
47:58
not know they had eye issues. And examples could be I was
48:01
never good at sports. I could never catch the ball or
48:05
at night, I couldn't see that well.
48:08
And either, you know, the child didn't really talk about it that
48:12
much or the family didn't pick up on it.
48:14
And then, you know, 20-30 years later now they're having trouble
48:19
crossing the street because they're, they're the loss has
48:22
progressed and the condition they actually have was something
48:26
they had as a child. So it's interesting to me how
48:30
many people like that kind of fall through the cracks.
48:33
It's just like amazing to me that.
48:35
And that individual wouldn't have known that there was
48:38
something wrong necessarily. It's just like, oh, this is sort
48:41
of what the world looks like. Yeah.
48:42
But I hear something like, oh, I was terrible at sports.
48:44
I never played baseball at basket.
48:46
I couldn't catch the ball, I couldn't make a basket.
48:49
And then they're like, I, I have this eye condition in my 30s and
48:53
I'm like, did you have it when you're younger?
48:55
And they go. I was never diagnosed, but I
48:57
think I did. Yeah.
49:00
Dana, there were a couple of things that we talked about a
49:02
little bit earlier that you mentioned wanting to come back
49:04
to sort of this idea of work life balance and a little bit
49:08
about your family history. What did you want to say about
49:10
those things? So, you know, a lot of people
49:13
ask me how is it that I lasted at the Carroll Center so long?
49:17
I think the the sort of generation today in the youth in
49:21
in my kids today or, you know, popping jobs every five years
49:25
and you know, our parents more were in the you work for one
49:29
company and you retired, got a pension and a gold watch or
49:32
whatever. So I always think I always have
49:34
to answer that question and think about it and I always
49:36
think about that. I stayed at the Carroll Center
49:39
because of that work life balance.
49:41
So the opportunity to have different roles was one, but the
49:44
fact that I actually went part time when I had children and
49:49
then I came back full time when it worked for me and I felt very
49:52
supportive in that environment. I think working in a non profit,
49:57
you feel more supportive and it feels more family like than
50:01
sometimes corporate America, etcetera.
50:04
But sometimes I always want I do that way.
50:06
I wonder if kind of thing, what if I didn't stay?
50:08
What if I went somewhere else? But it's certainly worked for me
50:13
and my family and my husband has his own business.
50:15
So it, it kind of worked for our family situation, but I think my
50:24
sort of road to work in helping people really stems from my
50:33
parents. My parents were Holocaust
50:35
survivors and sort of helping people.
50:38
My mother was a very loving person, even though, you know,
50:43
she she was a hidden, she was hidden during the Holocaust, but
50:47
you know, she lost her whole family and what she went through
50:50
and she came out still loving and but in giving back to people
50:54
in in until, you know, not too long before she died, she was
50:59
always sending money and packages to the people who hit
51:02
her and their descendants, their children, grandchildren.
51:06
We have still have that close relationship.
51:08
So that caring for other people and I think the just mentality
51:14
of taking initiative and getting things done was really also from
51:18
my father. But you know, also I think back
51:20
to their separate from the Holocaust that, you know, these
51:23
people born in their 20s and you know, you know, you, you, you
51:27
didn't have a refrigerator, you know, you or some buggy.
51:31
And when they, you know, you know, in their 90s, they were
51:35
using cell phones, right? And so how different the that 90
51:41
years of their lives were in terms of of all the developments
51:45
and stuff. But my father was very much a
51:49
inclusive. Everybody did everything
51:51
together. Didn't matter if you were girl
51:54
or boy. We mow the lawn, we rake the
51:56
leaves, we wash the cars. We if the, you know, vacuum
52:00
cleaner was broken, we were helping him fix it.
52:03
It wasn't the, it was the generation where you didn't
52:05
throw things out, you fixed them.
52:07
But every children helped fix things.
52:10
We weren't excluded. I did everything my brother did.
52:13
So definitely that mentality of equality was there.
52:17
But good work, work ethic. But I think I'll just, you know,
52:21
empathy for others who, you know, might not have all the
52:26
resources that they need. And helping other people, I
52:29
think really came from them, and especially my mother.
52:34
I appreciate you sharing that your parents obviously had their
52:37
own set of intense challenges to overcome from when they were
52:42
younger. I'm kind of curious to maybe
52:44
hear about particular challenge, either personal or professional
52:47
that you've overcome and maybe you know what that looked like
52:51
and some of the lessons that you learned coming out the other
52:53
side. So my mother told taught me
52:58
something that I kind of live every day and other people
53:03
comment to me on it. And especially when I've had
53:07
challenging employees that I don't, I don't get riled by
53:15
things because my mother's perspective when I was a little
53:20
girl and I would come home crying or be upset, thumping
53:23
her, her mantra was always, there are worse things in the
53:27
world, right? That was her perspective, right?
53:31
And that's how I was raised. And so I'm working with people
53:36
and I really can just say, OK, we can get through this.
53:39
We can work through this because in my head, there are worse
53:41
things in the world. Like this is not the worst thing
53:44
to happen. So I feel like anything, you
53:48
know, anything that might have derailed other people, you know,
53:52
I've, I lost a child in birth. I've, you know, have we all had
53:58
like, you know, death in our families or challenges?
54:01
I've been able to get things through things because I, you
54:06
just like you have to you, you know, you have to take the time
54:10
to get through them. But I also know I have that
54:13
mantra in my head, you know, seeing my mother lose all her
54:17
children, thinking about my mother who had to bury her
54:20
brother, who got shot on the side of a road or, you know, I
54:23
just think of those horrible things that they went through
54:27
and just go, okay, that just puts everything in perspective.
54:31
So, you know, I feel like any, you know, the challenges that
54:36
you have is also important to have people around you to really
54:41
go through the challenges, not doing anything alone.
54:44
I feel the Carroll Center has always been that family of we
54:46
will get through it. I've surrounded myself with
54:49
family and friends of we will help you through it and get
54:52
through it. And so I think that's critical.
54:54
You can't, you know, so with the sage, you can't do anything
54:57
alone. You know, it takes a village.
54:59
So I think to me, that's really how living my life in, in, you
55:04
know, both professionally and personally is just surround
55:08
yourself with people who can support you and, and who you
55:12
know, who will be there for you because I, I'm there for them as
55:17
well, because I recognize that you really want to give and
55:20
take. I agree, I think the the safe
55:23
connection with people is probably the single greatest
55:27
healing power that exists it it's.
55:30
And I think, you know, the other thing is family's critical.
55:34
And I, you know, I now have, you know, I have a married child, I
55:38
have a grandchild, but I'm very my, you know, you know, some of
55:43
my friends might say, I can't believe like you're living your
55:45
life for your children and grandchildren.
55:47
I'm like, no, you don't understand.
55:48
Like I want to give to them. I want to be there for them.
55:52
They're not asking me to do that because I know how important
55:56
that is, like, you know, and, and the fact that I want them to
56:00
be there when I'm going to need them in, in my older age.
56:04
And I've told them, like, I'm helping you now, you're going to
56:07
need to help me later. So, but it's just that it's that
56:10
just expectation that family is there for each other to help
56:13
each other, but I think your family expands.
56:16
So in a work environment, we're all here together.
56:19
It might not be my job, but I'm here to help you wherever you
56:22
need help. And I think that's what makes a
56:24
difference and a great employee in in having great people on
56:30
your team. Tina, I want to workshop
56:32
something with you. Just that that you just said
56:34
that and and kind of tell you what I first thought and felt
56:38
when you said it was you're like, things could certainly be
56:42
worse. This isn't the worst thing in
56:43
the world, right? And when I first heard that, my
56:46
initial thought was, well, don't say that like that.
56:49
That diminishes or dismisses the pain that you're feeling in the
56:53
moment, which is genuine and which is, which is real.
56:56
And then as I heard you talk about it a little bit more, I
56:59
kind of reframed it in my head a bit.
57:01
And it's like, you know, there's sort of this natural human
57:03
tendency to to want to compare, right, whatever it is, good and
57:07
bad. And so in this case, we're
57:09
comparing misery. It's like, man, I'm really
57:11
struggling. This is really rough.
57:13
And, you know, and so maybe it, it's sort of like a
57:17
psychological lever to say, yeah, this is really rough.
57:21
But my, you know, your, your mother, you know, watched,
57:25
witnessed her, her brother being shot in the side of the head on
57:27
the side of the road. Like there are things that are
57:30
far worse than this. Like pick yourself up, dust
57:32
yourself up. Is that kind of the the thought?
57:36
So it's not like I wouldn't say to somebody to say, oh, this is
57:38
not the worst thing in the world.
57:39
But in my head I'm going, OK, we can get through this.
57:42
And yes, we will acknowledge this is difficult for you or
57:45
it's a hard time, but how can we, how can we get you through
57:48
it? So because in my, in my head,
57:51
not being spoken out loud is OK, we can get through this because
57:54
there are worse things in the world, but we, we as a family,
57:58
we as a team can get through this.
58:00
So it's. Just that's what helps you stay
58:02
calm in the moment, yeah. I'm not telling other people
58:04
that. It's my own mantra, just like,
58:06
OK, let's, I'm always like, let's figure out how we can get
58:09
through this. What do you need?
58:10
How can we support you? What do you want to do?
58:13
Do you, you know, do you need to take a break?
58:15
Do you need you know so, but that's that's where I'm coming
58:18
from. That's sort of what keeps you
58:20
calm inside to be able to assist people who are going through.
58:26
Exactly. Yeah.
58:27
So I'm not like freaking out because that I've had that
58:30
training. That makes a lot of sense, yeah.
58:32
Yeah, So I don't say to people, oh, the worst things in the
58:34
world, I don't say that, but it's right.
58:36
It's kind of that training and mantra.
58:37
But I think it's just. But it's also saying to people,
58:40
I think professionals to say like, let's let's focus on how
58:45
we can get through it. Let's not focus on how terrible
58:47
this is. Let's focus on what this person
58:49
needs, how we get through it. Let's let's.
58:51
Leave. You can only dwell for so long.
58:54
At some point you've got to put one foot in front of the other
58:57
and move forward. So Dina, I've just got one more
59:00
question for you. But before I ask it, I want to
59:02
let people know the best way to get in touch with you.
59:04
What would that be? So through the Carroll Center,
59:09
the simple way is info@carrollwith2rs2ls.org.
59:14
And actually that e-mail comes to me certainly have a LinkedIn
59:17
page, so you can connect with me on that as well.
59:20
And even on the Carroll Center website, we have contact forms
59:24
that people can fill out For more information or seeking
59:28
guidance. And most of that emails come
59:30
through my team. Great.
59:32
Last question for you, Dina. I'm curious how you see what you
59:36
do evolving in the next few years.
59:39
The care for the blind? What do you think the changes
59:42
are that are coming in your space?
59:46
So it, it's still surprising to me that we still see so many
59:52
people with vision loss that cannot be restored it's and even
1:00:00
new genetic disorders, etcetera that are being identified with
1:00:04
individuals. So that's surprising to me.
1:00:07
But I, we certainly are seeing a lot of great technology that is
1:00:13
helping people. Certainly the use of AI, Meta
1:00:17
glasses that incorporate our devices or glasses that use
1:00:20
artificial intelligence are a big assistance to people who are
1:00:25
visually impaired now having. Access to artificial
1:00:29
intelligence that can read things or see things or answer
1:00:32
questions for them. Certainly the the iPhone or cell
1:00:36
phones have been in all the apps that are available to
1:00:39
individuals that help them day-to-day.
1:00:42
Just things. There's a program called Be My
1:00:44
Eyes, an IRA that provides sighted people through the
1:00:47
camera to help you see things, read things, tell you
1:00:50
information, etcetera, are all great opportunities for people.
1:00:55
Uber has been game changing for blind people because now it's
1:00:58
their independence is back in travel.
1:01:01
Set up an Uber account, order it in 5 minutes.
1:01:03
It's there. No longer do they have to call a
1:01:06
range for days in advance or a week for a friend or a volunteer
1:01:09
to drive them or we have a paratransit.
1:01:12
But again, you have to book it up 24 hours in advance and it
1:01:15
comes two hours early. And so that has been and and I
1:01:19
think even driverless cars. I was in Austin, TX last weekend
1:01:23
and I'm seeing these driverless cars all over the place.
1:01:26
It was amazing and scary at the same time.
1:01:29
I'm like, we're getting close to the Jetson age, so I think all
1:01:33
those advances are great, but you still need basic skills.
1:01:39
Constantly sitting at my desk getting emails and phone calls
1:01:43
about researchers and university students who are like, I think I
1:01:46
have the next best device for blind people to travel.
1:01:49
They won't have to use a cane. And I'm like, it's still a great
1:01:53
device. Nothing I think will replace the
1:01:56
cane for a long time. It's it's almost like saying you
1:01:59
don't need to learn how to write because you can just use, you
1:02:02
know, voice input, you know, everything on your phone or your
1:02:05
computer. It's like there's still some
1:02:07
basic skills that people will need and should need should use
1:02:11
and learn how to use even with all this technology as well.
1:02:16
Blind people can use talking computers.
1:02:18
But guess what, they still need to learn how to type and use a
1:02:21
keyboard still a skill you need voice input is not at the point
1:02:26
where we're going to throw our keyboards out the window yet so.
1:02:31
But all those technology has been in advances have been
1:02:35
incredible for persons who are blind and in their independence.
1:02:39
Dina, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your
1:02:41
time and your story with us today.
1:02:43
I really appreciate it. It's been great, Anthony.
1:02:46
Thank you so much for having me. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:02:49
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:02:51
Thanks for learning with us today.